Valve's Steam Box

[PANiC]

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/01/the-valve-steam-box-is-real-and-its-currently-at-ces/

 

 

After rumours, speculation, confirmation, and then yet more rumours, we finally have a glimpse at a real-life, working Steam Box. It?s code-named ?Piston? and it?s being made by a company called Xi3 Corporation, in whom Valve has plunked a load of dosh. Oh, and it?s tiny.

 

Xi3 is a micro-PC specialist, and it?s using its own X7A system as the basis for the Piston. Apparently the fully-finished Steam Box will pack a quad-core chip and 1TB of storage. Other specs are in short supply, but it?ll come packing HDMI out and more USB ports than you can shake a stick at, plus it?ll be upgradable, because the motherboard is said to be modular. Not that you?ll fit regular PC components in that small a box, but at least you won?t have to junk the whole thing, should Steam games demand more specs.

 

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/385376/valves-steam-box-early-specs-and-what-we-know-so-far/#

 

Early details suggest the system is codenamed 'Piston' and will be coloured in the familiar charcoal grey associated with Valve's software. Valve's Steam, specifically its Big Picture Mode for TVs, will likely be pre-installed onto the Linux based operating system.

 

Manufacturer Xi3 is a specialist in developing micro-size modular computing without performance tradeoffs. Its systems are typically four-inch cubes, barely larger than a Rubik's Cube, and also allow for relatively straightforward swapping and upgrading of components.

 

Xi3 chief marketing officer David Politis told games site Polygon that Piston will offer up to one terabyte of internal storage, eight USB ports (half of them using the significantly faster USB 3.0 standard) and a HDMI output for 1080p TV display.

 

Politis added that the Steam Box is based on the company's X7A system, so while the final Steam Box PC specs are unknown, it could carry:

 

Between 4 and 8 gigabytes of DDR3 RAM

A quad-core 64-bit, x86-based 32nm processor running at up to 3.2GHz (with 4MB of Level2 Cache)

An integrated graphics card containing up to 384 programmable cores

 

The X7A starts at $999, so Valve will likely want to reduce the RRP in line with its own specifications. The entry-level X5A, which uses Linux, starts at $499.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-ox90oXq8c

 

 

http://kotaku.com/5973986/here-we-go-valve+backed-pc-hardware-will-be-shown-off-tonight

[warzer0]

...Again with the post PC era stuff?

[Steel~Sparta~]

the is not and will never be a post pc era. Moores law drives PC cost and size but there will always be the need for more power. That means that PC is here to stay

 

Moddable, scaleable, upgradeable.

 

you cant do that with a console.

 

unless they bring the cost WAY down this piston doo dad will fail too. it is not worth more than $60 too me and I dont have a use for it.

[Durka-Durka~SPARTA~]

Looks pretty cool, but I just don't see the value in turning a PC into a console, even an upgradable one. The fact that there are soo many easily interchangable parts in a PC is what keeps cost down and allows games to get better (at least with graphics, not so much on creativity) every year.

 

I think it would be time well spent on developing maybe a fancy box such as this, but make it an external SSD drive to store all your steam games on.

[PANiC]

Valve Says ?Piston? Is Just One Of Multiple Steam Hardware Prototypes

 

 

Project Piston isn't the only one: Valve is showing off a number of hardware prototypes behind closed doors at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, according to a new report.

 

Yesterday, a company called Xi3 announced that it will release a Valve-backed computer built to play Steam games in your living room. Details are still sketchy on the new hardware, code-named Piston, but we know that it will be out at some point in Q2 of 2013 (so, April through June).

 

And according to a Polygon report, this isn't the only piece of hardware Valve is showing off at CES this year.

 

"Valve will be at CES to meet with hardware and content developers in our booth space," Valve's Doug Lombardi told Polygon today. "We are bringing multiple custom (hardware) prototypes as well as some off-the-shelf PCs to our CES meetings... We will be sharing more information to the press and public in the coming months."

 

In December, Valve boss Gabe Newell told me that they plan to release their own living room-friendly Steam hardware this year. Third-party companies will also sell Steam-backed hardware, he said. This Xi3 package is likely one of the third-party releases, not any sort of official "Steam Box."

 

 

some more stuff here: http://kotaku.com/5974346/meet-piston-valves-steam-box-love+child?tag=steam-box

[PANiC]

Report: Valve?s Steam PC Getting 2013 Reveal, Runs On Linux

 

 

According to a report on German IT site Golem, Valve engineer Ben Krasnow told an audience at the recent EHSM 2012 conference in Berlin that the company's long-awaited "Steam Box" custom PC/console/thing will indeed be running on Linux, and will be revealed in full at either GDC or E3 later this year.

 

Meaning the PC hardware industry as we know it probably has about six months to live. Because once a dedicated Steam PC for TVs comes out, everything changes.

 

The mention of Linux is interesting, though. Valve are fans of the OS, and have been staunchly anti-Windows, but if any upcoming Steam hardware is indeed running on Linux, and not the OS the vast majority of people are already familiar with using, it's a brave decision.

 

Then again, if the machine is being designed with the TV and gaming in mind, whether your word processor and Twitter client run on it aren't exactly as high a priority as they would be on a standard desktop.

[PANiC]

Sony And Microsoft Should Be Worried About The Steam Box. Very Worried.

 

The future of home gaming. The next generation. For years now, the anticipation and excitement over what's to come has been dominated by speculation over what would come next from Microsoft and Sony.

 

In one day, Valve has changed all of that.

 

It's been hard to get excited about PC gaming in the way you do about a new console. The nature of the PC means it gets a little better all the time. You don't really notice how powerful the platform has become until you stop and look back at the games and hardware that have come before.

 

But new consoles are massive leaps. Relatively. Because you only get one every 4-6 years, when you do, it's a big jump in performance, visuals, capability, the works. The games designed for those consoles jump accordingly. Which is why people get so excited about them.

 

Because of this, the PC hasn't ever really been a threat to the spotlight and the spectacle of a new console launch. Until now (and, well, until 2012).

 

I can imagine executives at Sony and Microsoft now worrying that Valve's Steam Box plans might steal a little of their upcoming thunder.

 

Putting aside the capabilities and promise of third-party Steam Box units (like Xi3's offering), the fact Valve is making its own PC means for the first time ever there'll be a company in the PC hardware space that people love with the same fervour they do current console platform holders.

 

Then there's the matter of timing. We're expecting the reveal, if not the release of both the next Xbox and PlayStation this year. Until recently, they'd had the hype calendars all to themselves. Now, they don't.

 

Most important, though, and the reason both of those things matter, is that the Steam Box isn't trying to be simply a branded personal computer. It's trying to be a PC that replaces your consoles. It's direct competition.

 

From Big Picture Mode to the use of controllers to the small size of the Steam Box computers, Valve's entire push is aimed at taking the PC from the office and/or bedroom and dropping it right in the living room, plugged right into your big TV. The same one you have (or, Valve must be hoping, used to have) a console plugged into. Where you can play many of the same games, only with better graphics and the ability to use mods.

 

Sure, there are differences. Even slimmed down, the various Steam Box units are still PCs. They'll have an operating system and will need upgrades (though hopefully that process is streamlined), as opposed to consoles with their intuitive user interface and fixed hardware. A Steam Box will, in all likelihood, be more expensive than a new console as well. If, say, the next Xbox launched at $500, and Valve's Steam Box launched at $1000, I won't exactly be surprised.

 

In a battle between consoles and PC, those factors will count in a console's favour. But then, even though we're now in 2013, most console games are (and often have to be) purchased via physical copies. A Steam Box will let you buy games from Steam. Almost an entire platform's library, at your fingertips, and often at frequently-discounted prices to boot.

 

If Valve can sell that convenience along with the power and potential of a true living room PC experience, they won't be selling a PC at all. They'll be selling something that will be strolling right into the console battlefield and laying some of the sneakiest sucker-punches this business has ever seen.

[Steel~Sparta~]

It will affect the console market far more than the PC market. The issue that I see is cost. 1000$ upfront. The upgrades for speciallized HW like that will not be cheap either but it is something that will add value over a xbox.

 

In the end it might change how people look at consoles and where they game.

 

It will not replace the PC.

[custard~SPARTA~]

Nice looking piece of kit but I do not see it getting at the console market, that $1000 is too much and consoles have been sold at a loss in many cases to grab market share.

 

It will fit very nicely in a small niche market 'IF' it can produce better than console graphics for the medium future or reduce it's price.